In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 58, 5 October 1916, Page 2

In the West

GENERAL HAIG’S DESPATCHES.

DETAILS OF SEPTEMBER FIGHTING.

Press Association—-Copyright, An* to lian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received 11.40 a.m.) Loudon, October 4.

Sir Douglas Haig reports: Eaucourt PAbbayo is entirely in our hands. There was considerable night shelling on our front southward of Ancro. Heavy rain fell in the morning.

General Haig’s further despatch reviews the recent fighting and pays tribute to the English Overseas troops for their unrelaxing pressure. They behaved with the discipline and resolution of veterans. It is now possible to give 'a fuller account of the fighting succeeding the advance oi September loth. That advance, which won Courcelette, Martinpuich, Highwood, Flers and Boulteaux Wood, created several minor salients on our front and it became necessary to advance our line between them. This was the task of the succeeding week. We carried a. quadrilateral work at the eighteenth redoubt of considerable strength and tactical iuportance, and successfully resisted an attack from the fifteenth, thereby limiting the extent of the successes on our right bank. The weather was wet and stormy between September 19th and 21st. We captured two lines of trenches on September 22nd, enlarging the advance between Flers and Martinpuich and trained ground eastward of Courcefette on the 23rd. By the evening of September 24th we had completed preliminaries for the next stage of a general advance on the 25th. From Combles to Martinpuich the country is gentlv undulating with many villages.' This area is surrounded by trees” and was a natural stronghold, fortified by every resource of modern engineering. We carried Les Bou fand 'Morval on September 25th advancing our line over a mile. Ihe capture of Morval and the combmec. French pressure on the south virtue - lv isolated Combles, which fell the next day as a result of the combinec Anglo-French movement.

FRENCH FURTHER ADVANCE. (Received 12.30 p.m.) Paris, October 4. A French communique says:—Wc have completed the capture of strong trench lines between Morval and St. Pierre-Vaast Wood.